Canadian Microelectronics Building National SOC Research Network With Synchronicity Design Collaboration Software

MARLBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 2002--The Canadian Microelectronics Corp. (CMC) today announced the purchase of design collaboration and semiconductor intellectual property (IP) distribution software from Synchronicity Inc. to facilitate the rollout of Canada's System-On-Chip (SOC) Research Network. The SOC Research Network will allow university researchers, students and industry to meet the challenge of the global shift from discrete chip-based electronics products to those that implement complete systems on a single chip.

Canadian university researchers, students and their industry partners will use Synchronicity's IP Gear Publisher Suite(TM) to facilitate distribution and support of IP cores, such as those from ARM plc (Nasdaq:ARMHY - news), to professors and students at the 32 universities in the new Research Network. The Publisher Suite will also be used to facilitate the transfer of the GDSII design layout files, in a managed fashion, from any of the member universities to the semiconductor fabrication company used by CMC to produce prototype devices. Finally, the Synchronicity Developer Suite(TM) will enable collaborative design among researchers at multiple universities and industry partners.

Dr. Brian Barge, president and CEO of CMC, said, "For Canada's SOC Research Network, we have chosen vendors that are best-in-class in the area of semiconductor design tools, design services and IP cores. We selected Synchronicity because they are clearly the market leader in SOC design collaboration, design reuse and IP distribution systems, an area of growing importance for electronics companies in Canada and around the world."

"We are excited to be an integral part of the SOC Research Network, the most advanced collaborative university design team program of its kind. It fits with our vision to be the standard platform for design chain collaboration and IP reuse," said Dennis Harmon, president and CEO of Synchronicity. "Many of the world-class semiconductor design companies in Canada, such as Nortel Networks and PMC-Sierra, are Synchronicity customers. With CMC's direct impact on the development of highly skilled employees for this industry, we are pleased to contribute to this world-class Research Network to achieve our vision in Canada."

About CMC

CMC (Canadian Microelectronics Corp.) is a unique model of government/industry/university collaboration that delivers advanced tools and technologies to enable leading-edge research in Canadian universities and high-quality training of future employees in industry.

Established in 1984, CMC is a not-for-profit organization and is supported by contributions of technology, services and cash from industry and by matching funding from the federal Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Through Queen's University, CMC is also managing major grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust to deliver research infrastructure for system-on-chip investigations at Canadian universities. CMC's membership now includes 44 universities and 25 industrial organizations, each selecting a member representative who acts as the main liaison with CMC. More information about the company is available at http://www.cmc.ca.

About Synchronicity

Synchronicity accelerates innovation with design collaboration software. Eight of the top-ten semiconductor companies use Synchronicity to connect their design chain at the team, enterprise and/or market levels. Our solutions enable IC, embedded software and system developers to move from concept to product to revenue more quickly by implementing best practices, managing design content, capturing design intent, tracking project status and facilitating design reuse. Headquartered in Marlboro, Mass., 508/485-4122, Synchronicity has offices worldwide. For more information visit www.synchronicity.com.

Note to Editors: The Synchronicity logo, DesignSync and ProjectSync are registered trademarks and IP Gear and Synchronicity Developer Suite are trademarks of Synchronicity, Inc. of Marlboro, MA. All other trademarks are acknowledged as property of their owners.

     Synchronicity Inc.
     Trent Poltronetti, 408/817-9600 ext. 232
     trent@synchronicity.com
        or
     VitalCom PR for Synchronicity
     Karen Tyrrell, 650/637-8212 ext. 204
     karen@vitalcompr.com
        or
     Canadian Microelectronics Corp.
     Sonya Shorey, 613/530-4698, 613/851-9416
     shorey@cmc.ca